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When we saw Ani Phyo’s latest book, Ani’s 15-Day Fat Blast, we knew we had to try it. But first, Hilal Nakiboglu grills the Korean American organic chef and self-proclaimed “eco-stylist” about her incredible 15-day claim.

Audrey Magazine: What was your relationship with food like growing up?

Ani Phyo: Well, my dad had a terminal illness. He was raised in North Korea and there was tuberculosis in the water supply. The antibiotics they distributed were too strong and Dad had kidney failure as a result. He ended up having to get a kidney transplant and then he extended his life 10 or 12 years beyond what was expected because we moved out of the city and into the Catskills, to this mountain town literally in the middle of nowhere. There was one main street, one block of stores and that’s it. We had five acres of land and my parents grew their own food.

AM: Organic?
AP: It was more than organic. Totally natural. No chemicals. Every morning my mother would go out and see whatever was ripe and from that she’d make vegetable juice. A lot of that was because my dad was sick. So I ended up being raised on a heavily raw diet.

AM: What do you mean by “raw?”
AP: Whole food. Unprocessed. That’s how traditional Korean food is, too, actually. It comes from the earth. It’s food that’s not manufactured. That’s a raw food diet and that’s pretty much how we ate. Growing up, I saw firsthand how food is really medicine and how you can use food to create health and increase longevity and boost your immune system.

AM: And then you left home for college.
AP: (Laughs) Right. When I went to college it was, oh my gosh, like a smorgasbord of all this food I never got to have. All the deep-fried cheese, the pizzas and pastas, the white flour, cakes and cookies. I gained a lot of weight.

AM: How much weight?
AP: About 20 pounds. And my cholesterol skyrocketed to almost 300. I went back home for Thanksgiving and my mother was shocked. I never had a weight issue growing up, so she knew how to get me back. She said, “There’s a reason we brought you up on those foods.”

AM: And if you stumble, there’s always the 15-Day Fat Blast to get you back on track. But why 15 days? Is there a magic to that number?

AP: In 15 days you’re eliminating common allergens, which help reduce inflammation in your body. So you will immediately notice that you feel lighter, tighter, leaner because that swelling has decreased. You also have more energy because there’s nothing challenging or draining your system. We’re eliminating the foods that bog us down and replacing them with fruits and vegetables, with all these nutrients that our bodies need. We want our bodies to hum, like a well-oiled machine. That’s why we need to give our bodies rocket fuel, not low-grade, watered-down fuel. When we switch to rocket fuel, we not only become leaner and tighter but we gain mental clarity. We can focus better. We feel better. We are better.

Read on to see how writer Hilal fared as she tried the 15-day raw food diet!

I’ve been eating like a Jersey Shore castmember. I can’t go on having sandwich meat
straight out of the refrigerator and calling it “lunch.” Maybe that’s cute when you’re 21
and drunk and it’s 3 am, but that’s not my life. I’m a grownup. Let’s do this.

Day 1: Start morning with blueberry shake. Over the first three days, Ani promises to dissolve
the “caked-on engine crud” that slows us down. Mmm, engine crud.

Day 2: Recipes include goji berries, camu camu and chlorella. I’m thinking a trip to the
health food store is in order. I’m also thinking: new blender.

Day 3: Love in the time of chlorella! So far so good: feeling full, feeling focused.

Day 4: Realizing there are a lot of smoothies involved in this. “Liquid lunch” now has a
whole new meaning.

Audrey Magazine is an award-winning national publication that covers the Asian experience from the perspective of Asian American women. Audrey covers the latest talent and trends in entertainment, fashion, beauty and lifestyle.